Document feeding and transport mechanism



Sept. 29, 1970 A. V. MARTIN DOCUMENT FEEDING AND TRANSPORT MECHANISM Filed Nov.

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Albert M Marl/h BY M,ww, flew/nu,

United States Patent Office Patented Sept. 29, 1970 3,531,104 DOCUMENT FEEDING AND TRANSPORT MECHANISM Albert V. Martin, Scottsdale, Ariz., assignor to Motorola, Inc., Franklin Park, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed Nov. 13, 1967, Ser. No. 682,041

Int. Cl. B65]: 3/06 US. Cl. 27136 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Documents are selectively fed from a hopper containing a plurality of stacked documents by frictional engagement with a rotating cam located beneath the hopper which in a rest position permits all documents to lie flat. Upon rotation, the documents are first lifted slightly upwards and then engaged by a frictional portion of the cam for transporting the lowest one of such documents out from the stack of documents. Raising up the documents decreased the frictional engagement between adjacent documents and also the hopper bottom plate. An articulated weight is disposed over the documents for providing an even weight distribution during feedout. The above described hopper is snapped into place into a card reader having such cam drive for automatically feeding documents through the card reader, or in the alternative, the hopper is removed and a flat plate is disposed over the cam assembly for hand feeding the documents.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to document-processing machines and particularly to such a machine which is either hand fed or automatically fed.

Document-processing machines, such as card or page readers, card punches, and the like, are well known in the trade. Many such machines are limited to a particular width of the document to be processed while others are either strictly manually fed or automatically operated. It is desired to have a relatively low cost document processing machine which has either manual fed or machine fed documents.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a universal document-processing machine capable of feeding documents of a wide variety of sizes, either automatically or manually.

It is another object of this invention to provide a universal document-processing machine of simple design at low cost.

A feature of the present invention is the provision of an automatic document feeding hopper assembly which removably fits into place in a document-processing machine.

It is another feature of the present invention to have a cam-driven document feeding mechanism having an articulated weight on the documents being fed.

It is another feature of the present invention of a document-feeding mechanism in which the documents are moved vertically prior to feeding horizontally for reducing friction imposed by the documents above and the plate below the document being moved or fed.

In one embodiment of the present invention a tabletop type of card processing machine has a large rectangular aperture in its upper surface. When it is desired to manually feed documents, a flat plate having a downwardly opening recess is disposed over such aperture with a drive cam residing into the recess.

In automatic feeding of documents, the flat cover plate is removed and a hopper device is snapped into place over the aperture. The hopper bottom has a second aperture for receiving a rotating cam mounted inside the card reader. A plurality of documents to be processed are disposed in the hopper and held down by an articulated weight, preferably having a pivot junction at its center. To transport the document to a document-processing station, the cam is rotated such that the documents are first lifted upwardly to give them a slight bow and then a frictional portion of the cam forces the lowest one of the documents outwardly toward the document-processing station. The articulated weight keeps pressure on all documents the same even with such a slight bowing.

THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a card reader used to illustrate the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic plan view of the FIG. 1 apparatus with a cutaway portion over the document-processing station to show the drive roller arrangement and with a hopper snapped into place.

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic sectional view taken in the direction of the arrows along line 33 in FIG. 2 and further having cards in the hopper under an articulated weight.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to the FIG. 3 but showing a flat cover plate covering the tabletop aperture in'place of the FIG. 3 illustrated document hopper.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIV E EMBODIMENT Referring more particularly now to the drawing, like numbers indicate like parts and structural features in the various views. A card reader is utilized to illustrate the present invention. The card reader in FIG. 1 includes document-transport table 10 having an upstanding document guide 11 extending along the entire length of one edge. Document processing station 12, in the present illustration a card-reading station, is cantilevered over table 10 from behind guide rail 11. Station 12 is disposed within housing 13. Housing 13 is removable to expose the operating portions of station 12 by being pivoted about axis 15 on reader housing 14 to dotted line position 16. The card reader is provided with a control console 17 which may have a plurality of electrical switches for controlling the operation of the reader in a known manner. For example, one of the switches may be an on-olf switch for actuating processing station 12 for sensing documents to be processed.

The FIG. 1 illustration is for a manually-fed card reader wherein table 10 has a completely flat upper surface. The document to be processed, such as a tabulating card, is placed against guide rail 11 on table 10 and moved under station 12 wherein it is engaged by drive rollers 20 and 21 (FIG. 2) and then transported through station 12.

When using the reader as a manually-fed card reader, no limitation is imparted to the width of the document. In fact, a document having a width greater than the width of table 10 may be utilized. A sufiiciently rigid document may actually extend over outer edge 22 of table 10 and still be successfully read by the card reader. It should be noted that processing station 12 only reads a portion of such a document, i.e., that portion adjacent guide rail 11. In this manner, documents contain marks to be automatically or machine read plus auxiliary information. The card reader may accommodate both manually-fed operation and automatic or semiautomatic document feeding. Table 10 has a large aperture 25 therein which, in the manually-fed version, is covered with flat plate 26 (FIGS. 1 and 4) for forming a completely flat document-transport table. To convert the reader to semiautomatic or automatic document feeding, plate 26 is removed and document hopper 27 is snapped onto table 10 as best seen in FIG. 3. Hopper 27 has apertured bottom plate 28 with extending fingers 29 for locking under table 10. Table has a finger 30 extending into aperture 25 for holding hopper bottom plate 28 in the position shown. The outer end of hopper 27 rests on a top portion of housing 14. Hopper 27 is held firmly onto housing 14 by spring clip 31 of known design. To remove hopper 27 from the card reader, the extending portion 32 of bottom plate 28 is lifted upwardly and then the fingers 29 are slid out from under table 10. To insert hopper 27 into the card reader, the reverse procedure is followed.

The hopper feed mechanism is explained with respect to FIG. 3 wherein it is seen that the hopper 27 has one of its edges 32A resting on top of guide rail 11 such that no corners obstruct document transport. A horizontal slit 33 is provided in the front end of hopper 27 for permitting only the bottom document 18 to be moved by rotating cam 34 toward document-processing station 12. Rollers 20 and 21 then engage the document 18 for completing the transport through the station. A receiving hopper (not shown) may be disposed adjacent the card reader for collecting read documents.

Driving cam 34 consists of a pair of side cam portions 34A and 34B with a center frictional material 39 for moving the document 18. The side portions 34A and 34B are relatively smooth and slip on the document 18. As best seen in FIG. 4, cams 34 when in a rest position have index portion 36 facing upwardly. Portion 36 is arranged to be below the document 18 permitting it to lie flat. As the cam assembly 34 is rotated by drive means of known design, there is a dwell period in which there is no engagement with the document 18. Camming portion 38 smoothly raises document 18 upwardly several document thicknesses for making a center bow therein as best seen in FIG. 3. Portion 38 has no friction-engaging material, permitting the documents to move only vertically. As the cam continues to rotate, frictional material 39, which extends above the cam portions 34A and 34B, as best seen in FIG. 3, engages document 18 and moves it to the left through slot 33 toward processing station 12. The lower document 18 remains bowed throughout the movement for reducing the frictional engagement between the various documents stacked in hopper 27.

Cams 34 include return portion 40 which rapidly returns the documents to index position 36. To maintain constant pressure throughout the documents for eflicient and malfunction-free transport, an articulated weight 41 is disposed on top of the document stack. As shown, weight 41 is pivoted in the center as at 42 such that when the documents are bowed the weight follows the contour of the bowing to a limited extent. Dotted lines 43 illustrate the position of the weight when documents are fiat. Any weight which substantially follows the contour of the documents when bowed is sufficient to provide even distribution of weight for effecting a more error-free feeding of documents from the hopper 27.

For example, cam 34 when in the index position (FIG. 4) may be 0.270 inch below the top of table 10. The cam has a maximum radius 0.330 inch greater than the index radius for causing a vertical movement of the documents of 0.090 inch or approximately 12 times a card thickness of 0.007 inch. While greated or less vertical movements may be used to successfully practice the present invention, it is believed that for tabulating cards a vertical movement of at least ten times the card thickness is highly desirable.

Processing-station 12 includes read-head assembly 44 of known design with a plurality of resilient fingers 45 for holding document 18 flatly against table 10 for good reliable reading.

As best seen in FIG. 2 hopper 27 accommodates documents about the width of station 12. It is understood that hopper 27 may be made wider such as shown by dotted line 18A in FIG .1. In such a situation hopper bottom plate 28 still fits into aperture 25, however, upstanding guides 50, 51 would be extended over table 10 to line up with dotted line 18A. Table 10 then serves as a portion of the hopper bottom. The machine read portion of document 18 remains the same; the remainder of such wider document being usable for other purposes.

As best seen in FIG. 4, flat plate 26 has a downwardly opening recess 45 for accommodating the portion 36 of cam 34.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a document transporting table having a large aperture therein,

a document processing apparatus mounted on said table adjacent said aperture,

a guide rail along one edge of said table extending past said document processing station and said aperture,

document drive means included in said processing apparatus for moving a document through said document processing apparatus,

a document hopper comprising a bottom plate and having upstanding portions extending from one side of said bottom plate,

there being a central aperture in said bottom plate which is remote from all edges of said bottom plate,

said bottom plate removably fitting on said table over said large aperture, and

cam means rotatably mounted on said table on the side thereof opposite said upstanding portions when said hopper is fitted on said table over said large aperture, said cam means during a portion of its rotation extending through said control aperture into said hopper,

said cam means upon rotation thereof repeatedly moving documents towards said processing station.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further including a flexible weight disposed in said hopper for evenly weighing such documents even though lifted centrally of said hopper.

3. The transport of claim 1 wherein said hopper comprises opposed upstanding end portions one of which has a horizontal slit for passing one document at a time,

said bottom plate joining said upstanding end portions,

and

one side of each said upstanding end portions being spaced from said bottom plate and formed to set on the guide rail when the hopper is on the table.

4. The transport of claim 3 further including a flexible weight vertically slidable in said hopper for evenly weighing down any documents in said hopper.

5. The transport of claim 4 wherein said cam means rotate about a given axis and having document engaging means comprises a frictional material rotating about said given axis with said cam means and continues to lift the documents off the bottom plate as the rotation moves said bottom one document horizontally.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the document has a predetermined thickness and said cam means lifts such document several of such thicknesses to form a bow in such document.

7. The transport of claim 6 wherein said cam means and said drive means operate such as to move any documents at an identical horizontal velocity.

8. The system set forth in claim 1 further including a fiat plate having the same dimensions as said bottom plate of said document hopper and adapted to be removably fitted on said table over said large aperture to create a flat surface with said table, said flat plate and said hopper being interchangeably removably fitted on said table to permit said system to transport a large plurality of documents of a given size adapted to fit in said hopper or to singly transport documents of any size through the processing station, such transport being at different times.

9. A universal document transport system including a document transporting table on a housing having a large aperture therein adjacent a document processing station, a guide rail along one edge of the table extending past said document processing station and said large aperture,

drive means in the processing station for moving a document to the station,

the improvement including the combination,

a document hopper having a bottom plate with a central aperture remote from all edges of said bottom plate adapted to removably fit on said table over said large aperture,

cam means under said table adjacent said hopper and being extendable through said central aperture into said hopper when said hopper is removably fitted on said table over said large aperture, and

said cam means repeatedly moving documents towards said processing station,

said hopper comprising opposed upstanding end portions one of which has a horizontal slit for passing one document at a time,

a bottom plate joining said upstanding portions and having a central aperture for movably receiving said cam means,

one side of each said upstanding portions being spaced from said bottom plate and adapted to set on the guide rail when the hopper is on the table,

a flexible weight vertically slideable in said hopper for evenly weighing down said document in said hopper,

said bottom plate having extending fingers from one end from a lower surface for engaging a lower surface of said table,

said table having fingers horizontally extending into said aperture from said lower surface for supporting said plate when in said aperture, and

resilient clip means on an end opposite said one end of said bottom plate for releasably engaging said table for holding said bottom plate on said table.

.10. The transport of claim 9 wherein an end of said bottom plate extends horizontally beyond the housing for forming a finger catch to facilitate removal of said hopper from said aperture.

11. An automatic document feeding mechanism including in combination a hopper having upstanding portions for holding a plurality of documents and having a document slit at one end thereof for passing out one document at a time, there being an aperture in the bottom of said hopper which is remote from any upstanding portions of said hopper,

an articulated weight adapted to vertically slide in said hopper for holding any documents down,

a document transport table at least partially under said hopper over which any documents may slide in a first direction from said slit, there being an aperture in said table, the edges of said aperture in said hopper being wholly within the aperture in said table,

and a rotatable cam means fixed to said table and within the edges of said aperture in said hopper,

said cam means having an index portion, a cam main portion and a friction portion,

the radius of the index portion of said cam being such as tobe below the documents in said hopper whereby in the index position of said cam the documents are permitted to lie flat,

the radius of said camming portion gradually increasing to raise said documents as the cam rotates with the camming portion thereof in contact with said documents,

said friction portion of said cam having the same radial extent as the maximum radius of said camming portion, and

means for rotating said cam, the document not being contacted by the index portion of said cam and the middle of the document in said hopper being raised by said camming portion and then said document being transported through said slit by said friction portion without raising said document further.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS 8/ 1957 Great Britain.

RICHARD E. AEGERTER, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

